dittany

American  

[dit-n-ee] / ˈdɪt n i /

noun

plural

dittanies

1. a Cretan plant, Origanum dictamnus, of the mint family, having spikes of purple flowers and formerly believed to have medicinal qualities.

2. Also called stone mint.  a North American plant, Cunila origanoides, of the mint family, bearing clusters of purplish flowers.

3. gas plant.

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dittany British  

/ ˈdɪtənɪ /

noun

1. an aromatic Cretan plant, Origanum dictamnus , with pink drooping flowers: formerly credited with great medicinal properties: family Lamiaceae (labiates)

2. Also called: stone mint.  a North American labiate plant, Cunila origanoides, with clusters of purplish flowers

3. another name for gas plant

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Etymology

Origin of dittany

1350–1400; Middle English ditane, detany < Old French dita ( i ) n < Latin dictamnus, dictamnum < Greek díktamnon, perhaps akin to Díktē, a mountain in Crete where the herb abounded

Example Sentences

They were wincing as they dabbed essence of dittany onto their many injuries.

From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling

She was supposed to drink dittany tea sweetened with molasses, but it tasted too horrible.

From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson

“You need the hospital wing. There may be a certain amount of scarring, but if you take dittany immediately we might avoid even that...Come...”

From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling

Without praising its flavor, he asked what it had cost, and, when I told him “a dollar a pound,” reckoned that it was “rich man’s medicine”; said he preferred dittany or sassafras or goldenrod.

From Our Southern Highlanders by Kephart, Horace

The smoke of the juniper was equally repellent to serpents, and the juice of dittany "drives away venomous beasts, and doth astonish them."

From The Folk-lore of Plants by Dyer, T. F. Thiselton (Thomas Firminger Thiselton)